In utero exposure to maternal malnutrition is associated with increase offspring susceptibility to cardiometabolic and neuropsychiatric disease. Epigenetic mechanisms mediate, at least in part, fetal adaptations to adverse in utero environments...

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) occurs when a sleeping infant experiences a challenge to cardiorespiratory homeostasis which it fails to overcome. Analyses of brain tissue from SIDS cases from around the world consistently show abnormalities in...

The chemistry of indole can be reversed and redirected by the addition of powerful electron-withdrawing groups. Incorporation of a nitro group at C-2 or C-3 renders the adjacent carbon susceptible to nucleophilic attack. Nitro, cyano, and...

Serotonergic and non-serotonergic neurons located in the medullary raphe region of the mammalian brainstem are involved in numerous physiological processes. Concerning respiration, neurons in this region have been found to be chemosensitive, i.e.,...

Traditionally, mast cells have been studied for their role as proinflammatory effector cells in allergic disorders. Recent findings however have opened up the discussion in the community of immunologists regarding MCs should be considered as...

The goal of this thesis has been to characterize the mechanisms of anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) modulation of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA A ) receptors. I used whole cell patch clamp recording to investigate the effects of AAS on...

Understanding how the brain works remains one of the toughest problems in science, despite the progress in scientific technology available for its study. The difficulty lies in the fact that the brain is a dynamic system, while the body of facts...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen of humans and the leading cause of mortality in patients with the inherited disorder cystic fibrosis (CF). The focus of the studies presented herein was characterization of the regulation and...

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays an important role in cognitive processing and emotional regulation, and altered serotonergic signaling in the cortex is associated with disorders such as schizophrenia,...

Up to 43% of patients with schizophrenia suffer from a co-occurring cannabis use disorder (CUD), which results in symptom exacerbation, decreased response to antipsychotic medication, and an overall worsening of disease course. Available treatments...